Saturday, November 14, 2015

Huitzilopochtli 3021 AD

Huitzilopochtli, patron god of war to the Aztecs (Mexicas), was born fully armored and armed from the womb of Coatlicue, herself the goddess of fertility, rebirth and goddess of life and death. As with so many things in mesoamerican mythology she's a symbol of duality. A goddess who's head is a pair of snakes, who's skirt is made of interwoven snakes and even her arms are snake heads! A fearsome creature portrayed in the image bellow in which you see all the features aforementioned as well as the necklace of skulls and amputated hands that encircles her neck. Makes you wonder what the goddess of the underworld looks like.

Legend says she became pregnant with Huitzilopochtli when a beautiful feathered crest fell from the sky while she was sweeping the temple at Tollan. At that time she was doing penance on the hill of Coatepec and her duty was to tend to the cleaning of the temple. Seeing such a beautiful crest she picked it up and admired it, bringing it close to her and contemplating it for a long time. It was when she was laying the crest down to return to her chores that she noticed a feather missing. No matter how much she cleaned and looked for it in the temple she could not find it. This feather was already on its way to become Huitzilopochtli.

Upon hearing the news of her mothers's mysterious pregnancy her 400 sons, the Centzon Huitznáhuac (gods of the stars), became deeply offended and enraged. Instigated by their sister Coyolxauhqui they decided to turn against their dishonored mother and kill her. It is at this time when confronting their mother with the intent of killing her that Huitzilopochtli is born fully armed and armored. He confronts and defeats his sisters and brothers and dismembers Coyolxauhqui throwing her head to the heavens to become the Moon.

This is all nice and well. Goes along the lines of one of the most popular legends around the birth of Huitzilopochtli. He is also known as the blue Tezcatlipoca and is one of the four Tezcatlipoca alongside Quetzalcoatl (the white Tezcatlipoca), Xipetótec (the red Tezcatlipoca) and the black Tezcatlipoca known simply as "Tezcatlipoca". The Tezcatlipoca are sons of Ometecuhtli y Omecíhuatl, the creating couple whose offspring also include figures such as Tlaloc (god or rain), Mictlantecuhtli (god of the underworld) and Xiuhtecuhtli (god of fire). As you can see family ties ran deep!

Now I want to revisit the legend from a more futuristic cyberpunk-futuristic-mecha setting inspired from last nights artwork.

Who are these gods? Who is this Coatlicue? A goddess who can give birth to a fully armed and armored son who defeats 400 fully armed gods of the stars, dismembers his sister and turns her head into the moon. Aside from the physical impossibility of giving birth to an adult, there's the added complexity (not to mention pain) of the armor and weapons!

An impossibility easy to overcome if Coatlicue is a mother ship and her son Huitzilopochtli is a fully armed mech descending to defeat the armies of opposing stellar forces (Centzon Huitznáhuac, gods of the stars). The dismembered Coyolxauhqui? Some remains of mech technology on the Moon?

I want to spin this off into an interesting setting that adds bits and pieces of mesoamerican mythology into a futuristic technology and magic mix. Who are these Atlanteans in Tula?

Lets bring these stone monoliths back to life with technology and magic mixed together. Letting the long lost mesoamerican culture jump 1500 years into the future and create an interesting futuristic setting with strange and at times very deadly rituals and values from the past.

A time when this to the left becomes that to the right. A hyper technologically advanced society ruled by fearsome gods of war, life, death and the underworld.

Let me introduce to you a goddess known as Itzpapalotl. She is the obsidian butterfly, the goddess of war and sacrifice, and of course death. She rules over the paradise of Tamoanchan, a place said to be the origin of man who was created out of sacrificial blood and ground up bones stolen from the underworld of Mictlan. If Tamoanchan is heaven just imagine what Mictlan (the underworld) looks like!

What is really frightening about Itzpapalotl is her description. She is described as a black skeletal figure with obsidian claws. She's said to be butterfly like with large skeletal wings tipped in sharp blades as well. Also notice the crest on her head! On top of this her neck is said to be surrounded by a necklace of hearts and hands taken from her victims. The image to the right shows a figure of her on top of a temple taking on human sacrifice. It is said she'd also incite men into cannibalism to give tribute to her and gain her favor or pardon.

Reminds me of a terrible creature that lives in the deepest, darkest, most feared corner of our mind. The dreaded alien queen.

If this is the goddess what is Tamoanchan? Where is this paradise she rules over? And most important of all who or what inhabits it?

Ahh! Overall a great deal of inspiration to bring together prehispanic mythology and folklore with future technology and beings from other worlds. What role would you play?